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Golden Calf Evangelism

John 17:15-17: “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world,
but that You should keep them from the evil one. “They are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is
truth. V. 19 “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be
sanctified by the truth.”

The Bible tells us that Satan rules this worlds system, it is fallen and under his jurisdiction. Yet,
as believers, we are to carry the message of truth in a world filled with
falsehood. This is especially important to understand when it comes to the
different cultures in the world that hold to various religious/ spiritual
beliefs. Some of them contain a few similarities on the surface but when more
closely examined they are not similar at all. Whatever is not in agreement with
the Word of God is not from Jesus Christ, is not truth, and is to be rejected
for our spiritual living. This would include “inclusive evangelism.”

In our day there are many new alternatives for evangelism. People are
experimenting with “new” ways to get the message of Jesus to those who have
never heard. There is nothing wrong with being flexible in how a message can be
communicated to a people group that has never heard about Jesus Christ or the
gospel. As good intentioned as some may be, we must be careful to stay within
biblical parameters. Sincerity and good objectives are not enough to justify
some of these new methods. What we are seeing is the same idea Aaron used
encapsulated in the new evangelism model of the paradigm shifters. Some will do
just about anything to call someone a Christian. Using the least amount of truth
from the Bible, they diminish the gospel and present it using their own cultural
setting. This has become extremely problematic missiology that is being promoted
by the New Apostolic Reformation, YWAM and other missionary organizations, and
it is getting much worse.

Here’s the scenario- Moses was up on the mountain now for weeks and no one
heard from him or from God. Under pressure from the people Aaron makes an idol
in the shape of one of the gods from Egypt, a calf. He then assigns the golden
calf the title of being their deliverer, the God (elohim) that led the Israelites out of Egypt.
Exodus 32:4 “…This is your god, (elohim) O Israel, that brought you out of the
land of Egypt!” They made feast daythe next day, sacrificed to itThe celebrated- dancing and rejoicing around this visible
representation of their God, attributing to him all that was done thus far. This
idol that was not God was accepted as God for the sake of the people. The Lords
response- they have corrupted themselves: “They have turned aside quickly out of
the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and
worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that
brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:8).

The application - we can call something God, when he is in fact not. We find
this being done today with what is called an inclusive evangelism- referring to
national gods as the true God.

I recently heard a series of programs with Daniel Kikawa being interviewed by
Danny Lehmann director of YWAM (who is on YWAM's governing board) on the local
Christian radio station. What I heard was extremely disturbing, problematic and
some of it was rank heresy. The message was clear- tell people they can keep
their gods name, in their culture and add Jesus into the equation.

I cannot let this go without it being addressed. It
cannot be ignored because it is of the utmost importance that we have answers
for what is being said.
What does the Bible actually says on these matters that Daniel Kikawa presents
as facts. I see this new way of evangelism as an
attack on the very nature of God and opposes His revelation to man by the Bible. Those who are not educated on this subject matter or familiar with
history will not be able to easily discern the errors presented. If you are not
grounded in the Scripture you can be misled by this type of rhetoric. Before we
go the radio interview we need to learn some of the beliefs in Kikawa’s
teachings.

Daniel Kikawa runs a ministry called Aloha ke Akua. He has written a
book called Perpetuated in Righteousnessthe
Journey of the Hawaiian people from Eden to the present time.

This is a portion of their MISSION STATEMENT:

“To facilitate the reconciliation of indigenous peoples to their Creator:

”The Creator God of the Bible is not a foreign God. He loves
indigenous people and has been a part of their history and culture from the
beginning.”

While I agree that God does love the people, the Bible says something very
different. God was not involved in all the nations culture; especially when they
worshipped other gods. All one needs to do is look at what these gods required
in worship and how these cultures lived to know how hopeless these people were
as they groped to please him by their religion. God was not involved in forming
cultures but one, the nation of Israel.

“To facilitate the reconciliation of indigenous peoples with Jesus Christ: ”Jesus Christ is the Son of the Creator of all people and He loves
all people equally. To let indigenous people know that any atrocities that have
been perpetrated by the church, “Christian” nations, or Christians were wrong
and did not come from Jesus.”

The meaning of this could be left up to ones interpretation if it wasn’t for Kikawa’s teaching in his book
Perpetuated in Righteousness. He makes it
clear what he means by this statement-

“Instead of destroying and
ridiculing the native names of the Creator God, we should help preserve
them as a legacy for these peoples. … Christians should cease representing
Jesus as the Son of the foreign God of a foreign people, especially if these
foreigners had never shown concern for nor had any involvement in the lives or
culture of the natives. We should instead introduce Jesus as the Son of their
creator God” (p.27).

This is the basis for his evangelism- telling people their God[s] (of
their nation, culture or tribe) had a son and that their God’s son (of
their nation) is Jesus Christ.As we will
see, this does far more damage than good, because it misrepresents the God of the
Scripture. What they perceived as God in their own
culture is not the same God presented in the Bible. Are the names of OTHER gods
to be treated as a legacy or be abandoned for the true one.

Kikawa writes- “To facilitate the reconciliation of indigenous peoples
with whom they are in Christ: “To let indigenous people know that God lovingly created them exactly as
He wanted them; that He has been with them and loved them throughout their
history, that He left many treasures and worthy traditions within their
culture, and that He desires they freely worship Him with, and celebrate,
the beautiful and unique cultural expressions that flow from them.”

This is just one of many serious errors in his philosophy and it becomes the
foundation for his new way to evangelize. To say God is directly responsible for
the formation of the people of the worlds culture and customs is complete nonsense. Did God give
them these ways to worship other gods?

This is one of the proofs for Kikawa's teaching that God was involved in giving customs
and traditions to the
cultures of the world. (He makes this point in his DVD video, “God's FingerPrints
in Japan”) Paul tells the Greeks in Acts 17:26-27) “And He has made from one blood
every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined
their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings," so that
they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find
Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”

Paul is referring to Deut
.32:8-9: “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when
He separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples according
to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD'S portion is His
people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.”

From the time of Noah and his sons, in the days of Peleg, whose name (that is
division Gen. 10:25) God gave the nations their place (land) and ordained
how far each should reach, east, west, north and south. He put boundaries in relation to
the Jews whom he brought salvation by. Nowhere does this teach that God gave
them their customs, traditions or beliefs as He did to Israel. The Bible is very
clear on this matter, Psalm 147:19-20 “He declares His word to Jacob, his statutes and His
judgments to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for
His judgments, they have not known them.” Jacob is a synonym of Israel (the
12 tribes). In other words no other nation was given a revelation of God like Israel.
This record becomes our Old Testament.

Here is what the Bible says about the ancient
cultures and nations- Gen. 10:5: “From these the coastland peoples of the
Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language,
according to their families, into their nations.” Genesis 10:20, mentions
the sons of Ham also Shem- Gen. 10:31-32:”These were the sons of Shem,
according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands,
according to their nations. V.32 “from these the nations were divided on the
earth after the flood.” Do we find anything in the Old Testament like Kikawa
asserts? Nowhere does the Bible say or imply that God,
“left many treasures and worthy traditions within their culture,” as
if He himself put them in these cultures. Kikawa has no proof that God “has
been a part of their history and culture from the beginning,”
NONE whatsoever.

When the flood occurredin Noah’s day there was
no one left (no culture or nation) obeying God but ONLY Noah’s family- God said:
“I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation” (Gen.
7:1). One can go as far back as the Tower of Babel, when the people united and
built a temple (Ziggurat) for worship not of God, but the host of heaven.
God intentionally scattered people who united over the face
of the earth where they themselves created nations (Gen. 11:6-9).

Abraham (2120 -1950 BC.) was removed at God’s request from the pagan land
he was in. Why? God found no nation, no people group worshipping him correctly,
they were in darkness. So He took Abraham and formed a people, Israel, whom He
personally gave His commandments and instructions to. When we come to the time of Moses, God gave Israel the
land of Canaan he promised to Abraham, and it says in Exodus 34:24: “For I
will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders.” If God was
so involved in forming these nations, putting treasures in them (as Kikawa
insinuates) he certainly
would not have to destroy them. Numbers 33:51-53: “Speak to the children of Israel,
and say to them: 'When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
'then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you,
destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish
all their high places; 'you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and
dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess.” In Deut. 7:1-2 the
Lord names 7 greater nations that the Isrealites were surrounded by , the
Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the
Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier
than you, “and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall
conquer them and utterly destroy them” (also Deut 31:3; Deut
20:16-20).

Why would the Lord tell
Israel to do this if they had redeeming traditions the Lord had put in them? Or
if they were worshipping him? The reason is “For they will turn your sons
away from following Me, to serve other gods” (Deut 7:4). OTHER Gods
were involved, not the creator God. In fact he made it clear to Israel (who is
the ONLY nation He formed) in Lev. 18:24: “Do not defile yourselves with any
of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled,which I am
casting out before you.” He warned Israel not to adopt other cultures
ways to worship or to live. Deut. 18:9-14: “you shall not learn to follow the
abominations of those nations.” Further on in this series of articles I will
show how serious this is and how the nation Israel is our example in being
separate as well as dealing with the idolatry in the nations. God did not tell
Israel nor did He EVER tell the church to redeem cultures but people.

John Dawson, the current president of YWAM is on the board of Daniel Kikawa's
organization, Aloha Ke Akua, and fully endorses his mythology presented in his book
“Perpetuated in Righteousness.” Because of this acceptance Kikawa was
able to teach his false history of Hawaii to YWAM bases in Hawaii and elsewhere.
John Dawson of YWAM said this approval about Kikawa’s book: “Marvelous!…This
is what we need for every people group. If only [they} had the clear picture of
the Lord’s redemptive destiny that the Hawaiians now possess.” “Daniel
Kikawa and the Hawaiian’s are showing us the way.” “Daniel Kikawa’s
memorable first book - Perpetuated in Righteousness - enabled us to behold early
Hawaiian history as with new eyes.”

At the end ofKikawa'svideo, Fingerprint of God Dawson gives a glowing
endorsement of what Kiawa is teaching. On the back cover of the DVD Dawson's
endorsement states “After seeking to communicate to Japanese people their
beauty for so many years. I know that we have the key to open the correct door.”
(I thought the Bible gave us the gospel as the key to evangelize the nations.)

Posted on Aloha ke Akua website John Dawson further comments, “…We would like to use this video as a
central part of our missionary work in Japan and to use it as an example for our
missionaries around the world, of how to present the gospel to indigenous peoples."

Even Loren Cunningham, Founder of YWAM chimed in-“thank you for your in depth
research that that is giving us keys that I believe will help us teach modern
day youth in Japan.”

This is outrageous! For YWAM to accept this is negligent and inexcusable, it shows the lack of
education in there own organization. It also illustrates that they adopt new
trends without ever verifying the veracity of the sources. (see the series of articles on the primary resources to prove he distorted history.)

There are many so called evangelists advancing a synthetic
gospel-which consists of a inclusive message. Kikawa has now expanded his concept
of Io of the Hawaiian people being the true God (As the same God of Israel) to
an extreme. Now he applies it to the cultures/nations of the world. This shows me how
far removed he is from a biblical worldview. This gospel formula of inclusivism has no
limits and can be made to fit anyone or anything- it turns into a customized universalist
view of nations.

In this series of interviews By Danny Lehmann (who is on the YWAM Global leadership team),
Interviewee-Daniel Kikawa says –”Well I think we can follow what Paul did in
Acts 17, which, as we know Paul usually went to the synagogues and you read
Hebrews he was the master at relating to them and so on showing through the
Scriptures who Jesus was. But now he comes to a culture which doesn’t understand
Hebrew culture and is totally different, Y’know, and the Areopagus is, y’know
is, was like the head of this other religion. And he goes there to, to talk to
them. And here we have the only sermon, a full sermon that Paul preaches to a
people that don’t understand. Now Paul was designated the apostle to the
gentiles, so we can follow his pattern. What did he do first okay. He didn’t
start quoting scripture, okay, he did that in Hebrews but he didn’t because
these people couldn’t relate to it, the first thing he did is he related,
I’m talking about your God. What he did was, he took the unknown God and he said
I’m going to tell you about him. Now the unknown god they had monuments to
the unknown god in Athens and by the way that was one monument, and he nicely
says monument among hundreds of monuments on mars hill. …. And he says I’m going
to tell you about this God, now in western Christianity Paul would be
rebuked and kicked out of church for doing that.”

Interviewer Danny Lehmann- “And isn’t it interesting that he used the
Greek word for God theos and he says I’m going to declare to you about that
God.” [emp. Mine]

Interviewee-Daniel Kikawa- “right.”

Acts 17 tells us while Paul was in Athens, he saw that the city was given
over to idols. V.17 “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and
with the Gentile worshipers...” V.18. “Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers
encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others
said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to
them Jesus and the resurrection.”

This is why they took him to the Areopagus, for him to explain this new
doctrine (Acts 17:19-20) of another God. What God was Paul going to tell
them about, one they did not know, not one they did! The God of Israel- the true
creator.

“I’m talking about your God. What he did was, he took the unknown God and he
said I’m going to tell you about him.”

It is apparent by what they said that he was telling them about a foreign god,
one they did not know. Paul WAS referring to Scripture in his sermon on Mars
Hill. He used Bible based teachings to explain to those who knew nothing about
the true God. Did he quote chapter and verse? No, but it was Biblically based.(
he also used their own poets words against them).

Lehmann’s comments of Paul using the Greek word for God theos is
inconsequential. Because Paul spoke to them in Greek (the Bible was also written
in Greek). Of course he used the word for God in their language. What he did NOT
use is a Greek gods name. Theos is general word for God, a god they did
not know.

Interviewer- Danny Lehmann – “So he wasn’t saying I’m going to bring in
the Hebrew God, this is something we have a problem with in the Muslim
world, a lot of Christians, especially pro- Israel Christians, which many of us
are, go to an Arab, and you start saying Allah- you cannot worship Allah you
have to worship Jehovah which is the Hebrew name for God. Which is like going to
the Hootoos and saying you have got to worship the Tootsie God and it is just
and incredible insulting thing and yet we in the west have a hard time grasping
it.” [emp. Mine]

Paul wasn’t going to bring in the Hebrew God! What God would he be bringing
to them?
Why not the God of the Hebrews? Because their position is that the cultures own national
gods names are acceptable. Again, this was not the Greeks God; he was an UNKNOWN
God to them.

Jehovah is not Allah- they are different in nature no matter what name one
uses for them. What is insulting is what Lehmann is proposing for us: to not tell
Muslims that Allah is NOT Jehovah.Instead, he has noproblem with
Muslims continuing to use Allah, the same name they have always used.Muslims believe their God Allah is the creator, the almighty, and there is no
other. They borrow concepts from the Bible to prove this and will, when it is to
their advantage, claim that Allah is the God of the Bible. When
they take this position they are not agreeing with us but saying that we are
wrong about God, that we have a corrupted belief. Not
everyone has the same definition of the words God, Jesus, revelation,
inspiration, or the events and history surrounding these subjects. “The Allah of
Islam” is certainly not the God found in the Bible because of the immense
differences. We know this God whom Mohammed had a revelation of hates Israel,
God is not called Father, does not have a Son because this one God is not triune
in nature. Neither is Isa (Jesus) the same Jesus of the Bible but is only a name
the Muslims have assigned him as a prophet; their Isa (Jesus) is not God the Son
who died on the cross for our sins, therefore Allah cannot be equivalent to or
used as the Father. The Arabic word Allah literally it
means “The God.” If one asks a Muslim about Allah being equal to the other names
of God that Kikawa is proposing, they would get a unanimous no.

How can anyone say the name Allah is the same God? We are not just using
names, the name identifies who is behind the name. One has to be without knowledge on
this subject or be dishonest to present them as the same God. However, Muslims know
their god is different then the Christian's, how come these men don’t?

Are they (the gods of the nations) all true Gods with different names? To say
all of these are no more than the names of God in different languages is to
intentionally not look at the God behind the name. There are distinctions in
these gods? If you do not make distinctions of whom these names represent you
will end up believing that are religions are basically about the same God. This
is what Bahai’s and Rosicrucian’s teach; that is what universalism is about.
This is no small issue and it takes time to answer what is being presented.

Interviewee- Daniel Kikawa- “Yes, Allah is another thing, the basis for
Allah is according to Don Richardson is Eloah, which is another form of Elohim.
And remember Mohammed is way after Christ, there were Arab Christians before
that using the name Allah before Mohammed came along and changed that. In
fact the Bible in Indonesia…still uses Allah as, when they use it in the
Bible… the Bible societies all over the world have translated for God so loved
the world- for Allah so loved the world…”

(Ed. Note I would like to see historical proof of this claim, that Arab
Christians used the name Allah before Mohammed. The first Arabic Bible
came after Mohammed. An Arabic version of the Hebrew Bible was made in
the tenth century by Saadia ha Gaon, the New Testament came after. Usage of the
name does mean it is correct and we must accept it.)

Historians tell us that al-ilah was originally a generic title for whatever
god was considered the highest god. Even among certain ancient Arabs the moon
god was also referred to as “al-ilah.” This is not a proper name of a single
specific god, but a generic reference meaning “the god.” The Hebrew word el
and elohim is also used for both the true God and false gods. This is why
in the Hebrew God is called Yahweh elohim, to distinguish him from other elohim
(false gods).
In the New Testament it is made clear that God is to be called Father who sent
his Son from heaven, again relating to the Hebrew revelation.

Interviewer Danny Lehmann- “You can go to any Encyclopedia and find,
well no, Allah is the moon god and therefore it shouldn’t be used, but I
would tend to disagree with that but because Theos was not exactly a holy
God either and neither is Gott in Germany, Vued in Sweden, or Hananim in
Korean” (Word to the World interview with Daniel Kikawa Feb.7, 2006, #2). [emp.
Mine]

Then we have a huge problem. Because if theos (as well as these other names)
is not a holy God then how could he be the true God! Lehmann is then
contradicting what both he and Kikawa are saying in his whole interview. The
whole premise is redeeming these nation’s names of god “bythe closest
also known as that is in that culture to our Jehovah.” This contradiction
will become more apparent as one reads the quotes. Here are a few already cited:
Kikawa on Acts 17 to the Greeks- “I’m talking about your God… I’m
going to tell you about this God.” Lehmann- Paul using the, “Greek
word for God theos and he says I’m going to declare to you about that God,”
meaning their own god, not the Hebrew one.

Furthermore, whether its Allah, Gott, Vued, or Hananim (dieu
or dios) all of these names mean God but the question is, are they the
same God? Take for example the name Allah. It came from al-ilah and although
there are those who look at the name as a generic name for God, the fact is, it
is not. Historians have proven that Allah was one of 360 gods worshipped at the
Kaaba before Mohammed made him monotheistic. Lehmann obviously disagrees with
these numerous scholars findings. Lehmann’s view on Allah has been voiced on a
previous programs of his. One program when interviewing a girl from Afghanistan,
she comments about Muslims, “And then meeting these people and they have a
true fear of God and it sort of taught me how to actually fear God in a
right way.” D. Lehmann- “sure, sure.” I would characterize the
relationship that Muslims have with God is mostly one out of, it is actually out
of fear whereas the Christians relationship with God is supposed to be out of
love” (Dec. 27, 2004, Word to the World).

This is a moot point; Muslims do not have a relationship with God without
Jesus Christ according to the Bible? The fear they have is not the same fear
that the Bible speaks of.

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